Kim Basinger

Kim Basinger (born 8.12.1953)

Kim Basinger is an American, Academy-Award winning actress.

Kim Basinger: Childhood

Kim Basinger was born and raised in Athens, Georgia. Don Basinger, Kim's father, was a musician in a big band, as well as a loan manager. Ann, her mother, was also an actress and a model. Kim is the third of five children. She has two brothers, Mick and Skip and two sisters, Ashley and Barbara. The Basinger family are Methodists.

At the age of 16, Kim Basinger began her modelling career and won the Athens Junior Miss Contest. She went on to win the Junior Miss Georgia contest. At that point, she was offered a contract by the Ford Model Agency. Although she initially rejected the offer, saying that she wanted to concentrate on singing and acting, she later changed her mind and moved to New York to join the agency.

Kim Basinger: Acting Career

Kim Basinger's modelling career soon took off and she was promptly commanding fees of $1,000 a day, which at the time, was a top salary for a model in the 1970s. Whilst she was working as a model, Basinger also attended acting classes at the Neighbourhood Playhouse.

In 1976, Basinger decided to pursue her acting career more seriously and moved to Los Angeles. She landed a few small roles, in TV shows, including Charlie's Angels and McMillan & Wife.

Kim Basinger's debut starring role was in Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold. The film was made for television in 1978. In 1983, Kim was Sean Connery's Bond girl in Never Say Never Again. The same year, she also took part in a notorious Playboy magazine shoot.

In 1984, Basinger starred alongside Robert Redford in The Natural and earned herself a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. She soon became a favourite for directors such as Robert Altman, who cast her in Fool For Love (1985) and Prêt-à-Porter (1994). Similarly, Blake Edwards directed her in both The Man Who Loved Women (1983) and Blind Date (1987).

Among Kim Basinger's most notorious film performances are her appearances in 9 ½ Weeks, and the 1989 production of Batman. Perhaps the highlight of her career, Kim Basinger won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential. In 2002, Basinger played Eminem's mother in his semi-autobiographical film 8-Mile. When the Abba musical Mamma Mia! was in its early stages, Kim Basinger was considered for the role of Donna, but lost out to Meryl Streep.

In 1993, Basinger featured in the music video for Tom Petty's song 'Mary Jane's Last Dance.' In the video, Basinger plays a corpse that Petty has chosen from the morgue for a dinner date. At the end of the video, he throws her into the sea and is shown floating in the ocean with her eyes open.

Kim Basinger: Personal Life

Kim Basinger was married to Ron Snyder-Britton, a make-up artist, from 1980 - 1988, when they divorced. Snyder-Britton wrote a book, Longer than Forever, which detailed their life together and also discussed Kim's alleged affair with Richard Gere. She had worked with Gere on 1986's No Mercy and later worked with him in 1992, in Final Analysis.

In 1993, Kim Basinger married the actor Alec Baldwin. They had met on the set of The Marrying Man and later worked together on a remake of The Getaway. The couple have a daughter together named Ireland Eliesse Baldwin. Basinger and Baldwin separated in 2000 and have been embroiled in a lengthy custody battle over their daughter. Alec Baldwin has also written a book about his relationship with Kim Basinger, detailing the lengths to which she will go to prevent him from seeing his daughter.

Kim Basinger suffers from agoraphobia.

Basinger was originally involved in the film Boxing Helena. When she pulled out of the project, the studio successfully sued her and she was forced to file for bankruptcy. She later appealed against the decision and the studio settled for a lesser amount.